Chapter 17: Chapter Seventeen

“He fired my managing director!”

Her anger still as acute as it had been that morning, Kennedi took in an ample gulp from her wineglass to simmer down. She’d been trying to get her mood in check all day.

“Richard was a pain in the ass, but it wasn’t Trenton’s place to dismiss him without discussing it with me,” she told her friends.

Coming to her feet from the armchair, she paced. It usually helped settle her nerves but not tonight. Each step fueled her anger.

“I rushed to the office, and he’s in a mood because I didn’t show up at the precise time he ordered. Oh, and he had the damn nerve to threaten to pull our agreement. Then, I get a call tonight from Richard threatening to sue on the grounds he was fired without cause. Like I need that shit on top of everything else I’m dealing with. Trenton had no right to fire one of my employees. Damn him.”

“Kenni, why couldn’t you play nice with the man until we got our loan paid off?” Tabitha scooped the remote from the center table before stretching out on the couch. “Now we’re right back where we started. You should’ve just told him you were with your father.”

Kennedi spun in her pink satin Isotoner ballerinas. “I don’t know if my father is somehow involved in the Miami funds’ disappearance, but he may be. If only I’d paid more attention to the deal before Pop’s health deteriorated. Trenton might try to have him arrested for all I know. And as for playing nice? I didn’t do anything wrong, except show up late to a meeting he decided to schedule for a Saturday morning without checking to see if I was even available. And still, I got there ready to work but he was too busy pouting and insulting me. Play nice?”

“Tab, cut Kenni some slack. It’s not her fault.” Evie entered the living room carrying a bowl of popcorn. “You guys are out of red wine. You’re never out of red. Two whites in there but no red.” Evie sat on the floor, her back braced against the couch, legs folded. “Kenni, you didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, while dropping a few pieces of popcorn between the bars of Dixie and Percy’s cage.

Kennedi resumed her strides back and forth. “Can you believe he had the gall to insinuate I was out all night with a man? Let me not forget to mention that part. I wanted to punch him in the throat.” She spun again. “You know what he had the nerve to say to me?”

“What?” Evie and Tabitha asked in unison.

“‘Go back to whoever this man is that you’re so engrossed in.’” Her voice dropped to a Trenton-like baritone. “‘Maybe he can salvage what’s left of your father’s company.’ Can you believe that?”

“Well, on the surface, the optics would suggest you’d spent the night out.” Tabitha pushed up from the couch to get a fistful of popcorn. “But so what if you had?” she said as she chewed. “You’re a single, grown-ass woman. You can do whatever the heck you damn well please.”

“Hmm, this is interesting.” Munching away, Evie adjusted her eyeglasses up the bridge of her nose. “Kenni, sounds like he was more irritated that you might be seeing another man than he was with your late arrival.”

Kennedi paused in her strides again and swirled to face Evie. “Seeing another man? I’m not seeing any man.”

“Yes, I know. But think about it—you show up late the next morning wearing the clothes he saw you in the night before, and instead of focusing on the business at hand, he assumed you’d spent the night out with another…with a guy.” Evie shrugged. “It’s your typical male response when he’s set his sights on a female. And once he’s mated with her, his brain makes an indelible imprint of her and is hooked. To the point where he doesn’t like the idea of you hooking up with other men. Not that you were.”

Tabitha burst out laughing to near choking. “Come on now, Evie. That’s a stretch, even for you.”

“What?” Evie looked between them. “It’s true. I’ve read about this. There are numerous studies and articles to back me up.”

Leave it to Evie to turn the situation into one of her women’s studies psych focus groups. Kennedi sat her practically full glass of red wine on the center table. “I don’t give a care what his reasons are for being a dick. It doesn’t give him the right to disrespect me.” She snatched her purse off the small side console and dug out her phone before swinging open the front door. “Nor does it give him the right to fire my employee.”

Tabitha sat up. “Where are you going?”

“I have his home address from the employee files. I’m going to have it out with that man here and now.”

“Is that ethical, getting his address like that?” Evie muttered while grabbing Kennedi’s discarded wine from the table and taking a deep swallow.

“It’s almost ten o’clock at night. You’re in your PJs,” Tabitha remarked.

Kennedi looked down at her hot pink short-sleeved top and white poodle-printed black pajama pants…

Whatever.

She grabbed the navy-blue throw off the back of the couch. “The drive to his place isn’t far. This won’t take long.” She left before allowing any more objections.

Stepping out of the shower, Trenton ran a towel over his head and on down the rest of his body. He’d put a beating on his muscles, yet the intense workout did little to curtail his complex mood.

Kennedi Chase had become an obsession—the unique scent of her skin, those rich brown eyes, the wild style of her hair—even her tough, warrior-like attitude. Every damn thing about her, and all of it he didn’t welcome.

Hearing his phone, he left the bathroom to catch it ringing on the nightstand. Kennedi. Conflicted emotions coiled tight in his chest at the mere sight of her name. Answer or ignore her?

Assuming he knew her reason for the call would have to do with her getting wind of Richard’s firing—the whiny bastard said he’d call her—he connected. “Yes, I fired him. I did what you wouldn’t.”

“Open up this damn door so I can come up.”

The unmistakable rumble in her tone spoke volumes. “You’re downstairs?” It was a private building. Security at the front desk normally buzzed him when he had a visitor.

“I’m at the garage entrance, but I can’t gain access without a code. Are you going to let me come up, or what?”

He rushed over to his security panel and pulled up the video feed on the widescreen. What the… “What’s that you have on?” She looked up smack into the camera, and he hitched a low breath at the sight of those narrowed amber-brown eyes. “Come on up.” Quick taps on the security keypad unlocked the garage door and the private elevator.

He threw on a plain white T-shirt and gray sweatpants. Running fingers through his damp hair, in his bare feet, he took the stairs down to the door just as she drilled against it. Planting himself firmly, prepping for what was sure to be a battle, he pulled it open.

Clutching a navy-blue blanket wrapped at the shoulders, curls piled in a frizzy bun at the crown of her head and soft pink slippers on her feet, her casual air was in stark contrast to the rigid expression she wore. “Are you going to let me in, or what?”

He stretched open the door. “Come in.”

She removed the blanket, revealing cotton pajamas. Flimsy lingerie would be easy for just about any woman to pull off, but this look was what he found adorably sexy. Beautiful wasn’t a descriptive enough word to express the exquisiteness of the woman standing before him. The fact that he found her more attractive each time he set eyes upon her—it fueled his discontent.

Her nighttime dress apparently didn’t include a bra. He tried not to focus on the way her nipples punctuated the fitted top and the way those poodle-printed pants sat low, right at the perfect curve of her slight hips, giving him a scant peek at her flat belly. That ivy tattoo grazed just above the waistband. “I won’t ask how you obtained my address. And I’m sure this could’ve been discussed via phone instead of you,” he gestured with his chin at her getup, “leaving your bed to come here.”

She dropped her purse upon the glass entry table none too gently, then turned and faced him, her features loaded with unmistakable fury. “Who the hell do you think you are? You have some nerve catching an attitude with me today. I showed up a little late. So what?”

“Damn near an hour late. Are you sure you should even be here at this time of night? Did that guy, Jacob, or whoever he is give his permission?”

She frowned and brought up a stiff index finger. “First, I don’t need to get permission from anyone. And Jacob Newton? I told you I do side work for Newton Marketing concepts. What does that have to do with any of this?”

His jealousy had been unwarranted. And yet… “If it’s not your side profession, someone has you on a short leash. Someone you consider so important you’d risk losing out on a lucrative business opportunity that could save both your business and your father’s.”

“I’m not seeing anyone.” Eyes squeezed tight, she shook her head. “Why am I explaining myself to you? Who I choose to be with and how I choose to spend my private time are none of your business.” She gave a sardonic laugh. “You men are all the same. You dangle a carrot, then when you don’t get your way, snatch it away. You want us at your beck and call and offer no respect.”

“I don’t disrespect the women I’m involved with.” They both blinked, catching the undercurrent of the meaning.

“No, you only disrespect the ones you screw.”

“I’m afraid you managed to do that all on your own by showing up at the office this morning after rolling—”

“Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it.” She glared in rigid warning. “For your information, I sat up half the damn night with a sick relative. That’s right—” Her lips puckered tight. “Surprise, the world doesn’t rotate around you.” She crossed her arms tight at her breasts. It exaggerated the severely budding peaks of her nipples. “You made a presumption about me, out of jealousy. Or maybe it was merely your usual pissed-off Saturday morning. Whatever the reason, you threatened to snatch away the agreement we made if you didn’t get your way. Was controlling me part of the deal? Is that how it works? What if I decide to see, say, Alan Lange? We have a lunch date scheduled next Wednesday. Will you go off and rip away the deal we made again?”

Trenton kept his features from betraying the wild punch to the gut he felt. “I don’t care what you do as long as it doesn’t interfere with the business we have on the table.”

“You don’t care, huh? Then, answer me this—did sleeping with me cross your mind even once when we met?”

“That’s not what—”

She took a step toward him, and he took a slow step back, narrowly close to the wall behind him.

“I’ll bet you’re imagining us in my store right now.”

Dressed like that, she had no idea how sexy he found her. “Do you take to flattering yourself often, Miss Chase?”

“You don’t ever think about what we shared, Mr. Shaw?”

Every damn time he closed his eyes he thought about it. Worse, she was right, and Dom was right. Jealousy had been at the forefront of his anger this morning, and it’d angered him on a level he had never known before. Even more than when he’d caught his ex in bed with her lover.

She took another step forward. Her hand came to rest featherlight upon his chest. He stayed planted in place, relying on harsh self-control not to rear away from her touch as the familiar crisp, clean floral scent that was uniquely her filled his nostrils. Subtly, quietly, he inhaled her fragrance while doing his damnedest not to get drawn into her dangerous game.

It became an intense test of will as that hand slid slowly downward and twirled underneath his T-shirt, her warm palm grazing his stomach. “What ar—” Damn it, his voice cracked. The corners of her eyes crinkled; it amused her. “Kennedi, what are you doing?”

“I’m simply skipping the pretense here with you, Trent.”

That low, seductive way she spoke his name, while the heat of her touch scorched his skin—it jumbled his ability to think clearly, to stay ahead of her. “We fucked. There was nothing more to it.”

“I don’t believe you,” she returned, her words a soft taunt on those smooth, pouty lips.

“Not my problem.” Damn, how he wanted her but didn’t want to want her.

Her gaze viper-locked on him, a hand cuffed behind his neck. Slender fingers slipped into his damp hair as she came up on her toes, their cheeks a scant inch apart, her caressing, warm breath at his ear. “You don’t ever think about what it felt like when we were together, you deep inside me?”

Her wet, warm tongue rimmed his ear before sweeping an excruciatingly exquisite trail down the column of his neck, nipping his skin along the way.

“Remember how you touched me…tasted me? How I touched you?”

Fingers dipped inside the waistband of his sweats and met the crown of his severe erection. She drew back. Awareness registered in her eyes, both from the feel of his swollen cock and the knowledge that he wasn’t wearing underwear.

She grinned, a wicked grin. “You don’t want to sleep with me again, Trent?” That hand circled his shaft and stroked, pumping with an aggressive purpose.

He was on fire, and she made it even more difficult by nipping and licking at his earlobe, driving him insane with the hot pulse of her breath on his skin. She wanted to play? He’d show her how it was done.

He caught her hips, spun and pinned her to the wall with the weight of his body, hands splayed across her firm ass, jerking her against the hardness of him. “Remember, you started this.”

Their stares met for a long moment, then in a speed that stunned him, she yanked his T-shirt up and wrenched it over his head. That was all it took. Clothes started flying.

In an instant they were naked, and in one swift surge, he sank his dick deep inside her but went completely still. They fit together so perfectly, even better than he remembered. He took a moment to savor the feeling, then hiked her up by the backs of her thighs and pounded ruthlessly into her clenching wet pussy as the deliciously wicked assault of her tongue continued toying with his lobe.

“This is what you wanted, Trent. Say it,” she whispered and administered rough and greedy nips, licks and kisses along his neck behind heavy pants.

So much passion unleashed, he could hardly breathe, let alone speak a coherent word as he struck her sex with deep, hard strokes.

“Say it,” she ordered and yanked his head back by his hair, forcing him to meet her hot gaze. “Say it.”

“Yes.” Damn, how he wanted this and hated that he did.

Their mouths were so close; they shared ragged breaths. Her lips parted in clear welcome of his tongue, but he reared back and slammed his hips repeatedly, striking, taking.

So desperately he wanted to claim her soft lips. They beckoned to him like a moth to flame, taunted. But if he kissed her, he’d be lost. And feared that he wouldn’t be able to recover from it.

“Right there, don’t stop!” She linked her ankles at his back, long, fit legs anchoring tight.

“You like my cock inside you? Say it,” he now demanded, pounding into her unforgivingly.

“Yes! Harder! Make me come!” she breathed in quick bursts. Her body shuddered, and his name the way he liked to hear her say it spilled from her lips in reckless abandon as her inner walls bore down, clamping tight.

He mirrored the feeling. His hands tightened on her thighs through one final thrust, hard and deep, before he swiftly withdrew, took a firm hold of his shaft and grabbed his T-shirt from the floor to catch his release as he emptied in a savage, mind-blanking rush.

Stepping in close, he nestled his head in the crook of her neck and sucked in a long-drawn breath through his nostrils, drinking in the scent of her skin to settle his racing pulse. To his surprise, delicate fingers caressed up and down his back for the barest of moments.

They stayed pressed against the wall a good minute more, catching their breaths before sharing an awed-like stare, then looked at their scattered clothes on the white polished marble.

Shit. His attraction made him a puppet when it came to the woman’s allure.

Hell if he knew how to shake it loose.

Kennedi couldn’t find one slipper. She scanned the area—in the fray of their swift undress, it’d somehow landed on the entry glass table.

Trenton retrieved it and nodded at the door on her right. “The bathroom’s over there.”

Silently she stood before him and dressed, then gathered her hair back into a messy topknot. He didn’t take his eyes off her as he slipped on his sweats.

He was an arrogant, bossy man who drove her mad crazy on a good day. So why did she suddenly wish so fervidly he was her man? A man who could wear the hell out of a designer suit and who looked even hotter in a simple pair of sweats, with an expanse of chiseled upper body so magnificent she almost panted. His mere kisses made the hollowness in her chest fill full to overflowing, emotions that lay dormant and untapped for quite some time.

The feelings struck so strongly, Kennedi all but bum-rushed him, practically knocking him into the wall, threw her arms around his neck and captured his mouth, taking what he’d denied her minutes ago all before he could blink. She pressed her tongue to the seam of his smooth lips. A deep, guttural sound escaped him as she broke through his resistance, delving, seeking and easily finding the sweetness of him she craved.

“Kennedi.” Her name was moaned from his lips as he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her back with brutal urgency, a fierce joining of tongues, their breaths bated within their partially opened mouths. They kissed for so long that when they finally broke away, each searched for much needed air.

“Why…” he breathed, chest heaving and his voice sounding almost tormented. “Why would you kiss me, Kennedi?”

“Because…” She scratched her forehead, grappling with her fragmented thoughts.

“Tell me.”

“Because I needed to know if what I felt when we kissed in my store… That it wasn’t just in my head.”

“And what did you feel before?” he asked softly and traced a gentle thumb across her moist lips.

When we kiss, I shatter into a million pieces. When you touch me, I don’t want you to stop touching me. The way you look at me, I feel you see me and only me. The answers scared her. They would expose far too much.

With the blanket draped over her shoulders, she asked instead, “Is our agreement still intact? Are we still business partners?”

“Yes. Aren’t you going to say this won’t happen again?”

She couldn’t even form that falsehood in her head. “You can’t fire my employees.”

“I can. It’s in the agreement. We co-manage.”

“I want it removed.”

“No.”

“No? Richard said you fired him without cause. He’s planning to sue.”

He chuckled low. “His ass won’t sue. I fired him because he was tapping the client list, trying to build his own, and using the company credit card to buy gifts for his potential clients. Simply put, stealing. He’s lucky I don’t have his ass arrested. That’s still a possibility. So no, he won’t sue. You’d know this had you showed up on Friday or come prepared to work this morning.”

“I did show up to get work done. I told you I had to tend to a sick relative.”

“How is she…or he?”

Thinking of Pop, Kennedi sighed glumly. “Good days and bad.”

“My apology for this morning.”

“Yes, well, you were wrong.” On a heavy exhale, she pivoted to the door.

“Wait. The temperature has a bit of a bite to it tonight. It’s warm one minute then chilly the next. You could catch a cold. Take my jacket.” He started toward the coat closet, but she pulled open the entry door. “I wasn’t joking when I said I’m meeting Alan Lange for lunch on Wednesday. He’d like to discuss a possible business opportunity with Chase Investments.”

“Cancel it.” He handed her his leather jacket but she waved him off. “I have business at Shaw Enterprise most of the day on Wednesday and will need your leadership at Chase Investments. We’ll need to hold interviews for a managing director. In addition, you need to prepare for the conference call with the investors. Not to mention, there are files on the desk waiting to be reviewed. I expect you there, Kennedi.”

There he was in full form—all bold, dark, and bossy…and still shirtless. Her sex pulsed as a swift surge of lust coiled every nerve ending. What the heck had come over her that she suddenly found herself turned on by his behavior? “It’s lunch, Trenton. I’m sure the company can spare me for an hour or so.”

Before he could rebut, she stepped out and slammed the door shut.